Lemon Meringue Tart with Mascarpone
This lemon meringue tart is heavenly with the richness of mascarpone, the tartness from the lemons and the marshmallow like topping
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Crust
- 125 gram/1/2 cup butter
- 1&1/4 cup cake wheat or all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup fridge cold water
Filling
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 x 385 gram condensed milk
- 250 gram mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Meringue
- 5 egg whites
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
Instructions
The Crust
- Place flour and butter in a food processor, pulse just until it resembles a coarse meal. Add a tablespoon of water at the time and pulse a couple of times after every tablespoon. Stop pulsing when the dough clumps together.
- Roll out the dough. Place in a tart dish or a tart pan with a removable base. Trim the edges. Refrigerate for an hour
- After an hour remove from fridge. Prick a few holes in the base, with a fork. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the pastry. Cover with baking beans or any beans or rice. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the beans and parchment paper. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the pastry is slightly brown
- Remove from oven and set aside
Filling
- Bring the mascarpone to room temperature. Seperate the eggs. Be careful not to mix any yolk with the egg whites
- Add the mascarpone, condensed milk and lemon juice and lemon zest to the bowl with the egg yolks. Use a whisk or an electric mixer and mix well until it's smooth
- Pour the filling into the pastry shell and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is slightly jiggly
- Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight
Meringue
- Fill a saucepan, about halfway, with water and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place on top of the saucepan
- Whisk continuously for 3-4 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved. Rub some of the mixture between your fingers to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. The mixture should be warm to the touch
- Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer or a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment on medium to high speed until stiff peaks form. It will be shiny and glossy
- Pipe or spoon the meringue on top of chilled tart. Use a blow torch to caramelize the meringue. Alternatively you can place it back in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or until the meringue is slightly browned. If you are baking it in the oven again your filling can be slightly warm and you have to spread the meringue right along the edges to seal the meringue and the base together. Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
Notes
- Although I prefer to serve the lemon meringue on the day it's made it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
- You can make the crust in advance if you want to save time. You can also use tennis biscuits as the base, you will need about 85gram of melted butterÂ
- I've used 1/3 cup of lemon juice which makes a less tangy tart and I used 1/2 cup if I wanted a more intense lemon flavor. It all depends on your taste. If you do not want too much lemon I think stick with 1/3 cup but if you don't mind an intense lemon flavor then 1/2 cup is perfect
- The quantity of sugar I used was just fine for our tastebuds. I find other tarts with way too much sugar. Here again you can use your discretion
- For the base I didn't add sugar and it worked fine. I also didn't add salt as I always use salted butter